My three U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,659,029; 4,757,950; and 4,783,018 illustrate the most pertinent prior art to this invention. These patents show how a cutting tape can be passed through a guideway underneath a travelling web of paper, perhaps 10 to 20 feet or more wide and be attached to the far side of an empty spool while the operator remains on the near side of the spool. These patents teach the use of mechanical arms to receive a cut end of the tape with adhesive on the tape, and to push the cut end into contact with the empty spool which winds the tape helically around the spool, cutting the paper web as it does, and wrapping the oncoming web around the empty spool. Processing difficulties have arisen to indicate the need for handling errors, such as the failure to apply a suitable amount of adhesive to the tape, which, in turn, means that the tape does not attach itself properly to the empty spool and, therefore, does not cut the travelling web of paper and transfer it to the empty spool. In the modern high speed plants it is very important that any such errors be handled quickly and efficiently.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved system for cutting and spooling travelling webs of paper. It is another object to provide a system which permits the operator of the cutting and spooling steps to perform all of the necessary operations in preparing the cutting tape for its use and sending it to the far side of the empty spool without the necessity of actually moving from his controls on the near side of the spool. Still other objects will become apparent from the more detailed description which follows.